Meghan Markle's Makeup Artist Shares All the Details on Her Royal Wedding Makeup

Even on the biggest of days, Meghan Markle's bridal beauty look was true to her personal style—simple and relaxed. For her royal wedding, the Duchess of Sussex tapped hairstylist Serge Normant to coif her messy bun and longtime friend and The Wall Group makeup artist Daniel Martin to perfect her glowing complexion. Brides spoke with the makeup artist about the gorgeous look he did for his BFF, who shockingly didn't do a single trial (more on that below), and got all the details on his minimalist approach to Meghan's classic beauty look.

"Since we're close, I know what she likes and the parameters to work within," he tells Brides of Meghan's approach to her wedding day makeup. "We tossed around ideas beforehand, but in the end, I knew what I needed to do and that was it!" The moment Daniel saw Meghan Markle's Givenchy wedding dress, he knew exactly what he was going to do on the big day. "Seeing the dress for the first time really set the tone for her makeup—Natural, polished and timeless." He adds that the linear line across her collarbone created by the bateau neckline acted as a complementary backdrop for her simple makeup. "[It] creates a frame for her face forcing you to look up. Too much makeup would have been a distraction from the dress."

He also adds, "For a moment like this, the hair and makeup should always compliment the dress." So did he collaborate with Serge Normant who was on hair duty? The answer surprised us: "I didn't know Serge was the hairdresser until the morning of, to be honest. Once I saw it was him, I knew we were going to have an awesome morning together!" Another fact that surprised us (and will shock all brides-to-be) was the number of trials he and Meghan had before the wedding. "We basically did her trial through text messages," he tells Brides. Color us shocked.

When the big day finally arrived, it was all about her beautiful brown eyes says Daniel. "We focused on the eyes because they're so expressive and her favorite feature, so we wanted to give them the attention they deserve to compliment everything else." He used a minimalist arsenal of makeup products: "Waterproof mascara, lash accents on her outer corners, and filled-in brows." Daniel skipped lipstick and lipgloss in favor of lip balm for Meghan's pout with the goal being, "a healthy moisturized lip."

For her reception look, Meghan changed into a stunning Stella McCartney number and Daniel accentuated her ceremony makeup. "I built up what we did for her wedding day by creating more depth and dimension on her eyes and cheeks and a sheer stain of beige-pink on the lips," he explains. Luckily, there were no beauty emergencies throughout the special day, but he kept blotting papers, her lip balm of choice, and Q-tips on hand just in case.

"It was such an emotional day," notes Daniel. "And one I will never forget!"